HMV stores in Canada have removed Bob Dylan CDs from their shelves in protest at the singer's deal to only sell his new album in Starbucks, reports say.

The rock legend signed an exclusive contract with the coffee giant allowing it to sell Live at the Gaslight 1962.

A spokesman for HMV Canada told the Hollywood Reporter they were no longer stocking or displaying Dylan's albums.

The chain has previously boycotted CDs by Alanis Morissette and The Rolling Stones to complain at exclusive deals.

Remastered bootlegs

When HMV Canada removed The Rolling Stones from its shelves in 2003, president Humphrey Kadaner said: "Any artists that choose to exclude HMV as a retailer for selling the product, this will be our response."

The chain's UK arm made a similar move last year when Chris de Burgh signed an exclusive deal with Woolworths.

Dylan, once seen as the figurehead of the anti-establishment folk rock movement, released the new CD through Starbucks in North America at the end of August.

It contains remastered versions of 10 songs that were recorded at New York's Gaslight Cafe and had only been available as bootlegs.

Corporate deals

It is not the first time Dylan has joined forces with a major company to promote his music. Last year, an exclusive compilation CD of his work was sold by lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret.

On Saturday, Martin Scorsese's three-and-a-half-hour documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan will be screened at Toronto Film Festival.

An accompanying two-CD set has just been released in all stores, with a DVD due in the coming weeks.

No Direction Home will be shown on PBS in the US and BBC Two in the UK on 26 and 27 September.

The National Film Theatre in London is currently screening a series of Dylan concerts and documentaries while digital TV channel BBC Four will launch a Bob Dylan Season on 24 September.